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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29251338">Picnics in the Park</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCreatorOfTales/pseuds/TheCreatorOfTales'>TheCreatorOfTales</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Adventures with Penny [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Wentworth (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Developing Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Freakytits - Freeform, Happy, No Angst, Penny is a matchmaker and loves her Aunty Jo, Penny knows what she wants, Romantic Fluff, Soft Sapphics again!, Soft!Joan, Soft!Vera, Toddlers are essentially mobile chaos machines, and asks for it, politely., soft</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:41:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,132</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29251338</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCreatorOfTales/pseuds/TheCreatorOfTales</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Penny is staying with her Aunty Jo once again, and they go to the park, joined by one of Penny's favourite people - Vera. </p><p>Chaos ensues, along with some soft moments, giggling and Penny trying to take a dip in the pond.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Vera Bennett/Joan Ferguson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Adventures with Penny [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2147856</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Picnics in the Park</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Multiple people requested more of Penny, and I'll be honest, it wasn't a hardship to write more of her. Penny is lovely to write and the perfect way to bring these two together. Out of the mouths of babes, and all that huh? </p><p>There's other fics currently in the works, including for GFSKYO (Governor Ferguson Said Knock You Out), Bite the Bullet and Stepping into Midnight. </p><p>As always, I love requests &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Joan had been nervous to extend the invitation to Vera for a picnic in the park the next day. It all sounded so pathetically <em>juvenile</em>, and she wasn’t a juvenile woman. She was <em>Joan Ferguson, </em>for God’s sake! She was the Fixer, hell in heels for the women of Wentworth and the Devil in the Office for her officers! She did not partake in juvenile past-times.</p><p>And yet here she was, impatiently waiting for Vera to answer her text, watching the bubble with the three dots in it at the bottom of her screen bounce up and down. Penny is tucked into her side, a small hand clutching at the belt of her robe and the tiny redhead was very nearly asleep.</p><p>It had been well over six months since Vera had met Penny for the first time, and Joan often had the little girl with her for one reason or other, and Vera enjoyed seeing the toddler. So much so, that Lucy and Catherine, Penny’s parents had invited Vera to come along with Joan to the little girl’s second birthday party. An invitation Vera had jumped at, and had brought a huge present that Penny had disregarded to jump into the curly haired woman’s arms with a cry of ‘VEE!’ Since then, Lucy and Catherine had often met with the two of them for drinks, and it was nice to have a circle of friends outside of Wentworth, in all honesty. Vera had confided in her that her mother was somehow still clinging to life and making life a misery for everyone, so she enjoyed the time she had away from the house. She also made a point of stating how much she loved the time spent with Joan, which had caused heat to bloom in the Governor’s cheeks, that Penny had patted at with her hands.</p><p>Vera still hadn’t answered.</p><p>Dammit.</p><p>Penny fidgets, snuggling tighter under her arm, and sighs with a content huff. Joan absentmindedly thinks that it’s time to put the little girl to bed, she knows that the little sigh meant that she was very close to being completely asleep. Sighing, she puts the phone down on the coffee-table, and manages to manoeuvre the half-asleep toddler and stand at the same time. Carefully, she makes her way through the hallway to what used to be the box room. When Penny had started to stay more often overnight with Joan, due to Lucy being a surgeon and Catherine a midwife, she had decided to unclutter the box-room (what little clutter there was in there, at least) and taken Penny to pick out a ‘big-girl bed’, which was essentially a smaller single bed, with raised sides and lower down so that she didn’t fall out of it. The room was a soft blush pink with white accents, and the bedframe was white, along with the small wardrobe and bedside table which held the nightlight. Vera had come with them on that occasion too, helping her talk Penny out of a bunk bed that was far too large.</p><p>               “<em>The room for you in Aunty Jo’s house is Penny-sized isn’t it?” Vera had crouched down and held Penny’s hand to stave off the potential tantrum. At seeing the redhead’s nod, Vera continues to talk her round. “So you need a special Penny-sized bed, to go in there, don’t you?” </em></p><p>
  <em>In all amazement, Joan had watched as the toddler had pouted, thought about it and then nodded enthusiastically. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>               “Bed for Penny!” was all the little girl had crowed before grabbing their hands and pulling them towards the toddler’s furniture section.</em>
</p><p>Movement brings her back to the present, and she places Penny down by the bed so that she can crawl onto the bottom of the bed and then shuffle up to the pillows and duck under the duvet. Joan tucks her in with her doll, a pigtailed thing that she absolutely adored. Joan had needed to sew up holes in the dress of the doll more times that she could count, but Penny dragged it everywhere. A kiss to the forehead, and she turns on the gently glowing night-light in the shape of a cloud.</p><p>               “Love you, Pen.” She drops another kiss to her forehead and hears Penny’s answering murmur.</p><p>               “Love yooou.”</p><p>The toddler is asleep by the time she gets to her feet, and she quickly and quietly backs out of the room, turning the main light of the bedroom off, and pulling the door almost closed. She turns on the hallway light sat on the table out of habit, in case the little girl wandered out of her bed.</p><p>She clears the last of Penny’s toys into the box in the living room, slipping the lid on when she notices her phone buzzing.</p><p>Leaving the box where it was, she rushes over to pick up the phone, and she notices that she has a message.</p><p>Vera.</p><p>               <em>Would love to come with you and Pen tomorrow! Anything in particular you want me to bring? Vera x </em></p><p>The text makes Joan grin.</p><p>               <em>Only yourself. Are you allergic to anything?</em></p><p>The curly haired woman’s reply comes in seconds.</p><p>               <em>Nothing that I’m aware of, but if you could avoid putting anything with kiwi in the picnic, I would be forever grateful. </em></p><p>Feeling playful, Joan shoots off a funny retort. She can’t believe that she’s doing such a thing, where before she never imagined she ever would, but she had gotten over the fact that she was deviating from her norm a good three or four months ago wherever Vera was concerned.</p><p>               <em>Oh well, there goes the kiwi salad that I’ve been working so hard on. And the kiwi smoothies. And the kiwi jam. The kiwi yoghurt will go in the bin. Shame.</em></p><p>It shows how comfortable Vera had gotten with her that she has a response sent back in less than thirty seconds after Joan sends the text.</p><p>               <em>I know for a fact that you haven’t made smoothies. You hate the texture of smoothies. Are your pants on fire? Liar liar.</em></p><p>Joan laughs out loud at the text, the noise louder than she anticipated, and she freezes for a moment, straining her ears to try and see if Penny has been woken.</p><p>She hasn’t.</p><p>After confirming that she’d pick her up at half 10 the next day, Joan gets to work on making everything to go with them.</p><p>She makes a fruit salad, with no kiwi in sight. She separates fruit into containers with lids which will help stop any bugs trying to get at the food, and it will be easier for Penny to eat if she can only have one thing at a time. Grapes, watermelon, whole apples and slices of apple all go into the cooler. Along with oranges, strawberries and some carrot sticks (Penny would never forgive her if she didn’t add those, the little girl was fond of them.) She makes three separate sandwiches, making the same for her and Vera with chicken and salad, and making small ham sandwiches for Penny, cut into small triangles and then all carefully packed into the bag. She grabs a few yoghurt pouches for the toddler, all of them apricot flavoured and grabs a small tub of Greek yogurt along with two spoons. She then zips the cooler shut, places it on the shelf in the fridge, and moves the three large bottles of water from the top shelf and carefully puts them next to the cooler so that she doesn’t forget them in the morning.</p><p>With that task done, she settles back on the sofa with her book, immersing herself in The Secret Garden. A favourite of hers whenever she wanted to read something that didn’t require an overload of brain power, she finds herself halfway through the book when she glances at the clock on the wall by the tv and has to look twice.</p><p>It’s 11:30pm already.</p><p>Closing the book and leaving it on the coffee table, she goes through the motions of making sure all that the front door is locked and that the balcony sliding door is also secured, along with turning off all the lights.</p><p>She checks on Penny, who is on her back, clutching her doll in one hand and snoring, quite cutely. Joan keeps the dim hallway lamp on, and leaves Penny’s door open slightly. She is quick to change into her pyjamas, and practically fall into bed.</p><p>She falls asleep after ten minutes.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>She’s woken by the small creak of her bedroom door being pushed open, and the <em>pat-pat-pat </em>of small feet on the hardwood floor. Joan stays still, with her eyes shut, trying not to laugh. Penny always did the same thing when she slept over.</p><p>The little girl throws her doll onto the bed with a huff and then uses the ottoman at the bottom of the bed to be able to climb up. She grapples her way up onto the ottoman and immediately crosses onto the bed. She staggers across the bed to the pillows, and then she wriggles her way underneath the duvet, as Joan turns to wrap her arms around her.</p><p>               “Good morning, trouble.”</p><p>               “Is morning, Jo!”</p><p>               “Indeed it is.” Joan glances over her shoulder at the clock. 7:30am. Joyous.</p><p>Penny shuffles closer to Joan, the toddler’s soft hair tickles her cheek, and Joan hugs her close. The toddler was always the same, up like clockwork at this time in the morning, much to Lucy and Catherine’s chagrin.</p><p>               “What we do today?” The loud whisper makes Joan grin.</p><p>               “Hm, well. Do you want to say good morning to your mummys’ first?” Penny’s enthusiastic nodding is all she needs to blindly reach behind her to grab her phone from the nightstand and quickly facetime Lucy. </p><p>She hands the phone over to Penny who sits up and holds the phone close to her face, practically with her nose pressed onto the screen and Joan can guarantee that the first thing that Lucy or Catherine will see is up Penny’s nose.</p><p>               “Hello?” It’s Lucy who answers, sounding like she’d just woken up.</p><p>               “Mama!”</p><p>               “Good morning, my love!” Lucy’s voice lights up and Joan can hear the shuffling of covers, and knows that the woman has turned to shake her wife awake. “Catherine, wake up love, Penny’s on the phone!”</p><p>               “Hello, darling.” Catherine’s voice is as tired as Lucy’s. Joan tries to hide her wry smile. It was their anniversary this weekend, which was why Penny was staying with her, so Joan can guess why they’re both tired.</p><p>               “Mummy!”</p><p>               “Yes, its me. Are you behaving?”</p><p>Penny turns to Joan as if to ask her the question instead. She reaches out and moves the phone away from Penny’s face so the two woman who are crowded around Lucy’s phone can see the messy, half sticking up curls and the drool around her mouth. Joan sits up slightly, leaning against the pillows, and Penny leans against her, making the camera angle include her in the frame. The two women coo over the image of Penny and Joan with rumpled hair, and sleepy eyes.</p><p>               “Morning Joan!” Lucy says, smiling. “Has she behaved?”</p><p>               “She always behaves with me, don’t you Pen?”</p><p>               “Yep!”</p><p>It’s a quick call, and it’s Penny that waves goodbye first, saying that it’s time for toast and Peppa. Joan stifles a laugh as the two women call out their goodbyes, and ‘love you’s.’</p><p>               “Jo, toast today?” The toddler is poking her shoulder and giggling. It was a habit for the two to always have toast in the morning after, any time that Penny stayed over.</p><p>               “Can I have coffee, do you think?” Joan asks, knowing that the little girl didn’t know what coffee was.</p><p>               “Maybe.”</p><p>               “Only maybe?!” She gathers the toddler into her arms, tickling and blowing loud raspberries into her neck as the little girl laughs, and squirms. “Alright, lead the way.”</p><p>               “Huh?”</p><p>Penny’s confusion makes her laugh, and then she motions for Penny to move off the bed first, which she does, waiting for Joan to lift her down. When she insists on helping Joan make the bed, Joan gives her the very important task of holding one of the pillows, a job she takes very seriously. She stands there like a little soldier, holding the pillow that is as big as she is. Joan gently picks her up so that she can place the pillow in her grip in its place, and then straightens it without the toddler noticing.</p><p>Then, after she slips her robe around her shoulders, the two walk down the hallway, Joan leaning across and turning off the hallway lamp as she passes it. Penny bursts into the living room as Joan wanders over to the other end of the open-plan room, into the kitchen and clicks the kettle on to boil.</p><p>She grabs three slices of bread, two for her, one for Penny, and slips them into the toaster. The little girl wanders around the coffee table, dragging her doll by its foot along the floor and then decides that all the fun is with Joan in the kitchen.</p><p>So she toddles across the room, past the dining table that breaks up the open-space and goes around the kitchen island, finding Joan pouring hot water into her mug.</p><p>               “Jo, toast pease?”</p><p>Joan smiles as she stirs sugar into her coffee. “Give it a minute, sweetheart. It needs to cook first.”</p><p>               “Cook hot.”</p><p>               “Yes, the toaster is hot, good girl.” Penny’s face lights up at the praise, and she toddles closer to her godmother, grasping at her robe. Joan bends and picks up the little girl, placing her on her hip as she goes to the fridge to get milk and grabs some apple juice for the toddler whilst she’s there. Somehow, she manages to get juice in Penny’s sippy cup, get all three pieces of bread buttered after they’ve popped up and stir the milk into her coffee.</p><p>She places Penny on the floor again, and tells her to go through to the living room and sit on the sofa. She hands the little girl her cup, and she wanders back through to the living room, as Joan brings the small plate of toast and her coffee through after her.</p><p>She lets Penny have two episodes of the horrid program about the pig, as they both chew on toast as they sit together on the sofa. Then, when she feels like her brain is about to leak out of her ears from watching the cartoon, she manages to convince Penny that the program about Sofia the Princess is far more exciting. She sneakily pushes the toddler’s cup into her hand more, as Penny would raise it to her mouth and drink some without thinking if she was otherwise occupied.</p><p>Happily, they take their time eating their breakfast, enjoying the calm. They had their routine, whenever Penny stayed over. Waking up and breakfast was the time of the day for calm, before they dressed and did whatever the plan was for the day.</p><p>About an hour later, Joan declares that it’s time to get dressed, and Penny nods her head, clambering down from the sofa and beating Joan to her little bedroom. Like before, Penny helps Joan as the woman makes her bed, tucking in the corners, and the duvet and letting Penny put the pillows at the top. She also lifts her up so that she can pull the curtains back, letting in the sunshine.</p><p>               “Jo!” She says excitedly, “Sunny!”</p><p>When Penny states decidedly that she wants ‘Jo clothes’ today, Joan pauses. She knows what the little girl means, usually any trip with Joan had with Penny,  the woman wore jeans and a half tucked in blouse that gave ease of movement to run after the hyperactive toddler and could be cleaned easily. So Penny wanted to wear clothes like her godmother today.</p><p>She makes a show of opening the drawers next to the wardrobe, as the toddler sits on her bed, swinging her legs back and forth. She holds up pink leggings, teasing Penny as the little girl calls out ‘Not Jo!’ at each option, until she comes to the jeggings. She holds them up, and the little girl cheers. Joan had checked the weather as they’d been eating their breakfast, and the day would be a comfortable level of warm, along with a breeze, so Penny would be just fine in her jeggings and a top. Finding a simple green top with a sweet little white Peter Pan collar, she laid both on her bed and held out a hand.</p><p>               “Teeth!” Penny says, as Joan agrees and leads her through to the bathroom and sits her on the closed lid of the toilet. Placing a tiny amount of toothpaste on the bright pink toothbrush, she wets it and hands it over to the toddler to brush her teeth as Joan used her own. Then, a washcloth is soaped up and cleans Penny’s face, making sure every inch of her face and ears are clean, including behind them, which made the toddler squirm.</p><p>Afterwards, once Penny had been helped to use the toilet, the two return to her bedroom and Penny is changed into her clothes for the day in less than ten minutes. Joan lets her walk along behind her back into her own bedroom, lifting her up onto the bed to sit as Joan got changed herself.</p><p>The jeans cause no issue with the toddler, but the simple, white shirt with elbow length sleeves does.</p><p>               “Jo! Jo clothes!” She says, waving her hands. Joan sees the issue. She hadn’t quite thought the choice through. But she didn’t have a green top in her wardrobe like Penny’s. The toddler continues to protest so Joan sighs and gives in.</p><p>               “Alright! Alright. Stay there, do not move, okay?” She dashes off back into Penny’s room, with her jeans on and her pyjama top still on, and yanks open the wardrobe doors.</p><p>The toddler had quite the collection, and Joan didn’t mind, the little girl was of an age where she either spilt something on herself or ripped something by accident. She reaches for a top, a shirt with ruffles around the middle on the front and another cute little Peter Pan collar.</p><p>She goes back into her own room, and Penny hasn’t moved an inch, as she promised. She tickles under Penny’s arms when she lifts them, making the toddler giggle, and gently takes the green shirt off, leaving her in her vest, and then tugs the white one over her head instead. The little girl pulls at a ruffle, and looks between her own shirt and the white blouse on the bed. Satisfied, she gives her godmother a huge, toothy grin and Joan, tugs the shirt on after finding a white bra.</p><p>               “Happy, now?”</p><p>               “Yeah!” Penny stands, and wobbles over to the edge of the bed and Joan catches her, placing her on her hip as they look in the mirror. Somehow, the colour of Joan’s jeans matches Penny’s leggings, and Penny wraps her arms around Joan’s neck and squeezes as she squeals.       </p><p>               “My Jo!”</p><p>She rubs the toddler’s back, and then puts her back on her own two feet. Mentally, Joan thinks what she’ll need to pack into the little bag for Penny, and a sunhat and sun-cream was definitely on that list.</p><p>She lets Penny watch another episode of Sofia as she gathers things that she’ll need into the tote bag. It’s a stylish, tan leather, with plenty of space. She packs a change of clothes, wipes, knowing that Penny hated her hands to be sticky after she’d finished eating and a clean cup with a lid for the toddler. She then finds the large bottle of sun-cream but places it on the side, needing to slather it on Penny before leaving the apartment. She digs out the little girl’s sunhat, a straw hat with a fairly wide brim, and a black ribbon around the head section. Joan knows that she’ll need to dig out her own. If Penny wanted ‘Jo Clothes’ today then that is what she’ll get. The toddler’s little cat eye sunglasses are already in the bag, in the same carry case as Joan’s own in a similar design. She packs a few toys suitable for outside, like her princess ball, and her ring toss game that needed to be blown up when they got to the park.</p><p>Eventually, the cooler bag is on the counter along with all three bottles of water, next to the tote bag, and Joan is kneeling down, slathering Penny with suncream on her arms, her neck, her face, any part that might burn. Then, she’s carefully pulling the sunhat over the toddler’s ponytail, making a curly tuft of redhair and then giving her the little sunglasses. Proudly, Penny puts on the sunglasses upside down, and Joan hides a snort as she helps her turn them around.</p><p>               “Ready to go?”</p><p>               “Yeah! Car!”</p><p>So, they get themselves settled in the car, with the bags and water in the trunk and Penny safely clicked into her own seat in the back and Joan is on her way to Vera’s.</p><p>It’s 10am.</p><p>They’re on the highway when Penny asks where they’re going.</p><p>               “We’re doing the park today, what do you think?”</p><p>Penny’s happy cheering is enough for her.</p><p>               “And I have a surprise, too.”</p><p>               “Surprise?” Penny is looking at her, little mouth in an ‘O’ shape. She looks adorable with her sunhat and her sunglasses and Joan thinks that she really does need to get a picture before she lets her loose in the park. “What surprise, Jo?”</p><p>               “You’ll have to wait and see, wont you?”</p><p>She keeps guessing the entire way, and when Joan pulls up to the kerb by Vera’s house, she’s still guessing. Joan gets out of the driver’s seat, closing the door and leaning against it, waiting to see if Vera brought anything that she might need help carrying.</p><p>Vera closes the door with a solid thud, her annoyance at her mother showing a little too much. And then she turns, and there is Joan Ferguson looking fantastic in a pair of comfy jeans sat high on her waist and a half tucked in white blouse with simple black flat sandals. She has a pair of large, black cat eye glasses perched on her nose, and her hair loose, tucked behind one ear.</p><p>
  <em>Jesus, she looks great.</em>
</p><p>Whilst Vera has been looking at Joan, the woman has been returning the favour. Vera decided on denim shorts that emphasised her shape, with a tucked in coral, v-necked t-shirt. White plimsols on her feet and she has her bag slung over her shoulder. With her hair pulled up into a half ponytail, Joan notices the freckles across her nose as she got closer.</p><p>               “I would get straight in the car,” Joan says as she gets closer. “But there’s someone who’s a bit more excited to see you first.”</p><p>She moves from standing in front of the window so Penny couldn’t see who it was and then pulls the backdoor open, and Penny shrieks for all to hear.</p><p>               “VEE!”</p><p>Joan finds herself with her arms full of Vera’s handbag as the shorter woman rushes forward to press kisses to Penny’s forehead and coo at how cute she looks as Penny garbles words at her.</p><p>               “Vee, we goin’ the park!”</p><p>               “I know, and I’m coming too!” It’s hard to tell who’s the more excited one as Joan steps around to place the bag in the trunk as the two squeal and grin at each other.</p><p>After a good five minutes, Vera steps back after checking that the toddler’s seatbelt was still clicked in properly, and she dances around the back of the car and sits herself in the passenger seat as Joan gets in on the driver’s side. After confirming that she has everything, Joan smoothly pulls away from the kerb and they’re on their way to the park located towards the centre of Melbourne. Penny loved the place for the slides and the swings, but also for the pond and the grassy areas where she loved to play with her ball usually.</p><p>               “So I notice that Penny is like mini you today.” Vera teases, watching Joan’s face pull into a small grin as she drives.</p><p>               “Her insistence.”</p><p>After another twenty minutes of driving, they pull into the car-park, and find a space easily enough. It’s early enough on a Saturday that they’ve beaten the mad rush that happens towards lunchtime.</p><p>Joan and Vera sort through the bags first, and Vera quickly places the blanket that she’d brought in the tote bag, and then slips her phone into her pocket and her purse goes in the bag as well. She had brought suncream, but sees that Joan has an overload, so she leaves that in the car.</p><p>Penny is singing to herself in the backseat, and Joan opens the door as the little girl turns and flashes a wide grin at her. The little girl is unclicked from her seat and carefully pulled out of the car and placed on her feet on the ground. She looks at her toes in her white sandals with fascination and then looks back up at her godmother as she closes the door.</p><p>Joan adjusts the toddler’s sunhat, making sure it covered her face and then looks towards Vera who has shouldered the cool-bag, despite Joan’s insistence. Joan walks with Penny to the back of the car and grabs the other bag, now slightly heavier with the weight of one of the large bottles of water in it.</p><p>Then they start walking. Penny is inbetween the two women and holding both of their hands, toddling along happily down the path. Some people pass them, offering small smiles and think that the little girl toddling along with her parents is adorable. Penny babbles on about different things, and both Joan and Vera humour her.</p><p>They manage to find a spot on the grass where it’s fairly close to the play park, and the pond, but far enough away that they still have space to play with Penny and not get annoyed by the other children playing.</p><p> </p><p>Joan lets go of Penny’s hand, reaches into the bag and then sets out the blanket on the grass. Penny immediately dives onto it, on her stomach, laughing and giggling. Her hat falls off her head, showing her red hair and Vera immediately reaches over to gently place it back on her head as Joan pours some water into Penny’s little cup with a straw and screws the lid on. Penny takes it when it’s offered, and then toddles over to the tote bag, and sticks her upper body into it, obviously looking for something while keeping her grip on her cup.</p><p>With a noise of triumph, she pulls out one of the inflatable hoops, a glittery pink crush of plastic and she makes a beeline to Joan to blow it up, knowing exactly what it is.</p><p>As she’s busy blowing up the hoop, Vera digs around for the smaller, purple one, along with the the ‘stick’ to throw the hoops on. It doesn’t take long for all three to be fully inflated and the two play with Penny on the grass, and after a time, Penny runs from one woman to the other, each trying to ‘steal’ the hoop from her.</p><p>               “Jo! Jo! Help me! Vee get me!” The little girl is squealing and laughing as she runs the short distance to Joan, with Vera chasing after her in a comically slow way. Joan half runs and swoops her up, throwing her up into the air once before catching her.</p><p>               “There! See, I’ll save you!” She blows a noisy raspberry into the toddlers neck, causing more giggling.</p><p>Vera slows to a walk and watches the two of them. Joan appears to be in her element, and Vera notices the appreciative looks from the fathers dotted around the place with their own children. It causes a flash of jealousy that Vera has to tamp down on, she had no right to feel that way.</p><p>Joan was her friend, her good friend, and she wouldn’t ruin that with trying to romance her.</p><p>Joan sets Penny back on her feet, presses the hat onto her head again and the toddler takes off running towards Vera again. They play with the toddler for a little while longer, and then guide her back to the picnic blanket to take a break out of the sun and to drink some more water.</p><p>               “Vee?” The toddler is leaning against Vera, sipping on the straw and her position making her hat sit lopsidedly on her head. Her sun-glasses had been put on the blanket next to her.</p><p>               “Yes, love?”</p><p>               “You my friend?”</p><p>               “Of course I’m your friend, Penny.” Vera wraps an arm around her, squeezing gently.</p><p>               “And for Jo?” She asks, continuing with her curiosity. “You like Jo?”</p><p>Joan freezes in the process of digging in the bag for the suncream. What was Penny getting at?</p><p>Vera smiles softly at the little girl. “Yes, Penny. I like Joan,” she answers. “Just like you.” She gently pokes the toddler in the belly, making her giggle.</p><p>               “I love my Jo, Vee.”</p><p>               “Yes, I know, love.”</p><p>               “You too?”</p><p>Joan can feel the heat rising in her cheeks as she tries to act as if she isn’t paying attention to the conversation. Vera peeks a look at her out of the corner of her eye, and she can see the blush through Joan’s hair.</p><p>It gives the curly haired woman the little bit of bravery that she was missing.</p><p>               “Yes, love. I love your Aunty Jo too.”</p><p>Joan’s head spins around fast enough that Vera can practically hear the crack of her bones. Vera simply smiles softly at her in response, and watches as the smile slowly overtakes Joan’s face. They don’t need to speak, they know each other too well by now to need to in a moment like this.</p><p>               “You sure about that?” Joan asks, breaking the silence.</p><p>               “Positive.” Vera smiles at her and then shyly, reaches out her hand and places it gently over Joan’s.</p><p>And then a third, tiny hand places itself on top too.</p><p>               “Jo, ball please?”</p><p>Vera watches with a soft gaze as Joan pulls her eyes away from hers, and grins at the toddler patting their hands. She watches as the woman gently taps Penny’s nose, making the little girl giggle and crinkle her nose. She reaches into the tan bag, and pulls out the plastic ball covered in princesses and Penny squeals and claps her hands together. Joan hasn’t moved her hand out from under Vera’s. Instead she flips their hands and squeezes gently.</p><p>               “Her majesty has summoned us.” She laughs, and Vera glances over at the toddler who is already on her feet with the ball and trying to run further. Vera quickly squeezes Joan’s hand back and then helps pull her to her feet, ready to rush off after the little girl.</p><p>               “PENNY, STOP!”</p><p>Startled at the sudden shout from the woman, Vera is shocked when Joan breaks off into a sprint, towards the direction of the pond on the other side of the grass and then realises, horrified, that Penny is fast approaching the water, fascinated by the ducks, her ball dropped on the grass.</p><p>Vera takes off after the woman, coming up closely as Penny is quickly yanked up into Joan’s arms before barely getting her toes wet.</p><p>               “Penelope, you know not to run off!” She scolds the toddler, holding her in her arms as Vera quickly comes to her side. She clutches the toddler close, sighing as she tries to calm her heart rate. Vera gently places a hand on her waist and the other on Penny’s back. Although surprised, Joan doesn’t question it.</p><p>               “Sorry, Jo…there’s ducks.” Penny tries to offer a reason for running off, not liking that her godmother was upset with her. Joan was rarely upset with her.</p><p>               “You know to ask to see them instead of running off, Pen.” Her tone is gentle, and the little girl lays her head in the crook of Joan’s neck in apology as Vera softy rubbed her back.</p><p>               “Now, do you want to see the ducks?” Joan asks as Penny leans back in her arms and nods enthusiastically.     </p><p>               “Please!”</p><p>Joan places the toddler back on the ground and holds out her hand, which Penny takes. She then looks around, and reaches her hand out to find Vera who quickly hold her own hand out and Penny grasps it happily.</p><p>They show Penny the ducks, and giggle at the ducklings bobbing around the pond and after ten minutes, she finds them quite boring. Joan crouches down as Penny looks at her curiously.</p><p>               “Now, do you want lunch?”</p><p>               “Carrots!”</p><p>Vera stifles a laugh at the toddlers enthusiasm, and Joan says that they’ll race her back to the picnic blanket and the toddler takes off running again, straight at the blanket.</p><p>Joan and Vera are quick to catch up to her, and Vera’s laughter is a welcome sound to Joan’s ears.</p><p>Penny lands on her knees on the blanket, turning her head and making her hat fall off as she searches for the two women.</p><p>               “I winned!”</p><p>               “Yes, you <em>won!”</em> Joan gently corrects the little girl’s language, settling back on the blanket. Vera shuffles next to her and the two lay back, leaning against the tree that they placed the blanket near. Vera is leaning on Joan, and the black-haired woman smiles, enjoying the braver side to Vera. She drags the lunch bag closer and opens it. She gestures at Penny with her hand, drawing the little girl near, and she sits, tucked against Joan’s other side.</p><p>Joan hands her one square of the sandwich that she’d made, and the toddler chews on it happily.</p><p>She then hands Vera one of the chicken and salad sandwiches in it’s bag, and takes the other for herself. They tuck into the lunch, with Joan occasionally offering another square of the toddler’s sandwich to her until she finished it. Then, she lets the toddler nibble on a small container of carrot sticks as the two women finish their own sandwiches and begin to nibble on fruit.</p><p>Penny notices that the strawberries are in a container of their own in the bag, and abandons her carrot sticks to grab the tub and then shuffle on her knees back to Joan, holding up the box with a pout.</p><p>               “Is berries! Please?”</p><p>Joan eyes how many carrots that the toddler has managed to eat and sees that one is half eaten on the blanket. Gently, she takes the box of strawberries and then picks up the carrot and holds it in front of Penny.</p><p>               “Finish this one first, and then you can have some strawberries.” She compromises and Vera watches in fascination as Joan negotiates with the toddler over fruit. She noticed early on after meeting Penny that Joan spoke to her in a normal tone of voice, and spoke correctly. Both Lucy and Catherine did this when the little girl was old enough to start speaking and as a result, Penny was incredibly well spoken for a two year old.</p><p>Penny looks at the carrot, and purses her lips, eyebrows furrowing in contemplation.</p><p>               “Carrot, and then the berries?”</p><p>               “Yes, I promise.”</p><p>She reaches up and grasps the small carrot and quickly puts it in her mouth, making loud crunching sounds as she chews. Joan takes off the lid from the strawberries, and lifts one out, using her other hand to pull the greenery at the top of the fruit and then holds it out to Penny with a small smile.</p><p>They spend the rest of their time at the park in a similar fashion. Making sure Penny drank enough water and wore her hat when she played, both Vera and Joan snapped copious amounts of pictures on their phones.</p><p>There was only one heart-stopping moment when Penny approached them, babbling excitedly and holding out a terrified Huntsman spider, which had made a small squeal and a flinch come from Vera as Joan reassured the curly haired woman that she would deal with this one. She’d walked her goddaughter over to some bushes, and then encouraged her to kneel and set the quivering spider on the dirt, slowly.</p><p>Penny had done so, and the arachnid had immediately scuttled off, probably traumatised. Once they’d gotten back to the blanket where Vera was still sat, having refused to be near the spider, Joan checked over Penny’s hands and arms, making sure that she hadn’t been bitten. To be fair, the spider had seemed taken by surprise with the way its legs had been hanging limply as Penny had been grasping gently at its body.</p><p>Once satisfied that her goddaughter was no worse for wear, she wiped over her hands with a antibacterial wipe, to make sure that the toddler wouldn’t ingest any germs after her little adventure with her eight legged friend.</p><p>They’d continued to play, with the little girl running from one woman to the other, squealing with laughter. They’d played with the glittery hoops and Penny’s ball, making sure they all drank some water to avoid becoming dehydrated.</p><p>When Penny had started to stumble a bit more on her feet and rub her eyes, the two women knew that it was time to go. Working together, they packed up everything, and Vera carefully pulled Penny’s hat onto her head and pulled the now light cooler onto her shoulder and then the tote bag, despite Joan’s protestations.</p><p>               “You’ll be carrying her, and she’ll be asleep as soon as we start walking back.” Vera had pointed out and Joan had looked at the little girl, sat on the grass yawning and pulling at her ear, a habit that she only did when she was ready for a nap.</p><p>Joan had bent and scooped the little girl up into her arms, resting her on her hip and Penny had immediately burrowed her head into the crook of Joan’s neck, grasping one hand onto the collar of her shirt.</p><p>They’d walked fairly slowly back to the car, talking of different topics, from work to Vera’s mother.</p><p>               “I don’t know, I’m thinking of a hospice. She’s making every nurse quit within a week!” Vera moaned, stepping out of the way of a wayward puppy. “I know what she wants. She wants there all the time only to care for her, but I’m not doing it. I’m not, Joan!”</p><p>               “Don’t feel bad for feeling that way. From what you’ve told me, she wasn’t exactly a perfect parent.” Joan readjusts her grip on the limp toddler as she speaks.</p><p>               “If I was to try and find a hospice, would you help me?”</p><p>Joan blinks at the request. “You know I would. Are you coming back to mine for the afternoon? Give you some time away from the howling banshee that currently resides in your living room?”  Vera looks at her gratefully.</p><p>               “I’d love to.”</p><p>               “Dinner, too?” Joan offers, and the soft smile she gives to the shorter woman tells her that this isn’t a simple offer for dinner. This is more. And Vera doesn’t even need to think about her answer.</p><p>               “I’d love to. But only if you let me help, you made the picnic.” She barters, winking at the woman, making her blink in shock and then grin widely, a smattering of pink across her cheeks.</p><p>This keeps up until they reach the car, gentle teasing with some flirtation thrown in. The attraction has been there for months, and Vera freely admits to herself that seeing the woman in work and then seeing the gentleness reserved for the toddler sleeping in Joan’s arms, made her melt. Equally, Vera’s determination and quiet confidence in work and her relaxed side outside of the walls of Wentworth made Joan breathe easier around her. Something about the woman helped take the edge off, even if they were only sat and having a coffee.</p><p>Vera digs around for the car keys in the tote-bag, pulling them out with a small ‘A-ha!’</p><p>She dumps the bags in the trunk, and then helps Joan by opening the back door and trying not to stare too much at the older woman’s behind as she bends to get Penny into her car seat, as the toddler stays limp as she sleeps.</p><p>Joan recognises the feeling of someone watching her as she fiddles with the clips of the child-seat, and grins to herself.</p><p>
  <em>You aren’t as subtle as you think, Vera Bennett. </em>
</p><p>The drive home to Joan’s apartment doesn’t take long, and Vera hums along softly to the radio as Joan smiles softly at the sound.</p><p>They manage to get Penny and both bags upstairs, and Joan carefully lays Penny on the sofa, taking off the sunhat and then taking out the hair tie from her hair. Red curls explode around her head as she fidgets in her sleep.</p><p>               “Go and sit with her whilst I put all these in the dishwasher, I wont be two minutes.” Vera tries to protest but Joan shoos her into the living room and she knows that this is a battle that she wont win.</p><p>It takes Joan about ten minutes to have the dishwasher filled correctly and turned on. The cooler is scrubbed clean and folded inside itself and tucked back on top of the fridge. She turns the kettle on to boil water for some coffee and wanders over to the living area, intent on asking Vera if she wanted tea of coffee.</p><p>Or at least she would, if Vera wasn’t currently sleeping on her back, with Penny draped on her front with her head on her chest. The both of them look incredibly comfortable. Penny's little sandals have been dumped on top of Vera's plimsols, and Vera's sunglasses are on the coffee table. Her arm is wrapped around Penny's back and the two of them are breathing deeply.</p><p>Joan takes a few pictures, and then gently pulls a pillow under Vera’s neck to stop her getting a pain in the neck when she wakes. She walks with silent feet to the balcony door, and pulls it open to let a small, slight breeze through the apartment.</p><p>She makes a coffee for herself, and then proceeds to sit in the armchair nearest to side of the sofa that Vera is facing and cracks open the Secret Garden, moving the bookmark out of the way.</p><p>Sipping her coffee, she turns a page and smiles softly to herself.</p><p>               ‘<em>And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed, and every morning revealed new miracles.’ </em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading, as always you beautiful people &lt;3 </p><p>Comment and Kudos are always appreciated &lt;3 </p><p>Until the next one! :D</p></blockquote></div></div>
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